Song of Solomon 6

1 To where has your beloved gone, O beautiful among women? To where has your beloved turned, And we seek him with you?

Where has your beloved gone, you fairest amongst women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

2 My beloved went down to his garden, To the beds of the spice, To delight himself in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3 I [am] my beloved’s, and my beloved [is] mine, Who is delighting himself among the lilies.

I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses amongst the lilies.

4 You [are] beautiful, my friend, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts.

You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

5 Turn around your eyes from before me, Because they have made me proud. Your hair [is] as a row of the goats, That have shone from Gilead,

Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.

6 Your teeth as a row of the lambs, That have come up from the washing, Because all of them are forming twins, And a bereaved one is not among them.

Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing, of which every one has twins; not one is bereaved amongst them.

7 As the work of the pomegranate [is] your temple behind your veil.

Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

8 Sixty are queens, and eighty concubines, And virgins without number.

There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

9 One is my dove, my perfect one, She [is] one of her mother, She [is] the choice one of her that bore her, Daughters saw, and pronounce her blessed, Queens and concubines, and they praise her.

My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favourite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed. The queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her.

10 “Who [is] this that is looking forth as morning, Beautiful as the moon—clear as the sun, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts?”

Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?

11 To a garden of nuts I went down, To look on the buds of the valley, To see to where the vine had flourished, The pomegranates had blossomed—

I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

12 I did not know my soul, It made me—chariots of my people Nadib.

Without realising it, my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.

13 Return, return, O Shulammith! Return, return, and we look on you. What do you see in Shulammith?

Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?